AP: A quick start for today 10/25/13

FILE- In this Jan. 27, 2010 file photo, a horse-drawn carriage shares the road with a taxi in New York's Central Park. Bill de Blasio, who is leading in the polls as he is seeking the New York City Mayor’s Office, supports a plan to replace the horses with old-timey electric cars hired to take tourists on slow-speed jaunts around Central Park.

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:

1. WHERE THE HEALTH CARE WEBSITE WENT WRONG

Contractors say the problems trace back to insufficient testing and late changes government officials made.

2. 5 INJURED ON STATE FAIR RIDE

Passengers are hospitalized after an apparent malfunction on the "Vortex," which spins, twirls and flips passengers upside down, at the North Carolina State Fair.

3. MERKEL SAYS SPYING ALLEGATIONS HAVE HARMED TIES WITH U.S.

"We need trust among allies and partners," the German leader says. "Such trust now has to be built anew."

4. PORTUGAL REOPENS THE MADELEINE MCCANN CASE

Prosecutors say new evidence has emerged more than six years after the British girl vanished.

5. WHY ACTIVISTS ARE PUSHING SAUDI WOMEN TO GET BEHIND THE WHEEL

They hope recent reforms made by the monarchy have readied the deeply conservative nation for change.

6. FDA RECOMMENDING LIMITS ON MOST-PRESCRIBED PAINKILLERS

In a big shift, the agency says hydrocodone-containing drugs should be subject to the same restrictions as other narcotics like oxycodone and morphine.

7. HOW GAY COUPLE ARE GETTING AROUND OKLA. BAN

Groom-to-be Darren Black Bear is a member of the Cheyenne Arapaho, among the few Native American tribes that allow same-sex marriages.

8. NYC HORSE-DRAWN CARRIAGES COULD CLIP-CLOP TO A HALT

Animal activists who have long argued against the tradition have the backing of both leading candidates for mayor.

9. FORMER RADIO PERSONALITY ARRESTED IN SEX STING

Dave Herman, who was a pioneering rock disc jockey in New York, is accused of trying to transport a 7-year-old girl to the U.S. Virgin Islands.

10. CARDINALS GET EVEN WITH HELP FROM ROOKIE, VETERAN

Michael Wacha and Carlos Beltran are making the most of their first World Series, propelling St. Louis to a 4-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox.